


luminous red nova

by 10softbot



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 05:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15623259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10softbot/pseuds/10softbot
Summary: stellar explosion thought to be caused by the merging of two stars.alternatively, jaemin tells donghyuck to go on tinder and turns out it wasn't such a bad idea





	luminous red nova

**Author's Note:**

> this is completely self indulgent and came to life after a 30 seconds dream in which they kissed at the movies. didn't plan for it to be this long but here we are. special thanks to mel for hyping me up so much, im love u.  
> by the way, my humor sucks
> 
> do not repost without permission.

“You should go on tinder.”

Donghyuck chokes on his drink, coughs it back into his cup and tries to catch his breath. He is sure he heard it wrong; the music is loud and pounding in his ears and he is sure he just heard it wrong. Pretty sure.

“What did you say?” he asks after a minute, once his throat doesn’t feel like dying from coughing so much and he puts the other back into focus.

“I said you should go on tinder,” Jaemin repeats, louder this time, with the same steady voice he used just a moment ago and Donghyuck looks at him like he’s grown another head.

“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Donghyuck barks at him, tries to smack him on the head and Jaemin just dodges it. He gives Jaemin a look, reaches for the cup in his hand and quickly dumps its content into his own cup. He chugs it before Jaemin can even register and the drink burns its way down his stomach. “I think you’ve had enough jungle juice for the night.”

“First of all,” Jaemin points at him, punches him on the shoulder and slaps him under his chin, making him look up at him, “you’re gonna regret this and I won’t clean up after you again. Second of all,” he pauses, crosses his arms over his chest and gives Donghyuck _that look_ and he hates it so much, “you should listen to me because I’m right. You might find someone cute, you never know.”

Donghyuck rubs his chin, gives him the finger and walks back to the setup bar. He doesn’t even know whose party this is, all he knows is that he needs another drink to forget about Jaemin’s stupid idea. Which _is_ stupid and he can’t even believe he proposed him something as ridiculous as that. It’s not like he is Single and Annoying, he’s just Single and Sad and he takes it as an offense that Jaemin actually agrees with him when he should be the one comforting him, saying it’s okay to be alone, that he doesn’t need someone else to be happy.

But, honestly, who is he trying to fool. The both of them have been trying for months now to find someone for each other and it all ends in failed attempts and bad dates gone awfully wrong. They don’t know how to play cupid and they’re starting to accept it, every new suggestion dying mid-sentence whenever they are reminded of a bad experience.

The last one ended with Jaemin having to pick Donghyuck up at the ass hours of the night from an abandoned amusement park because the boy acted all edgy and told Donghyuck it would be fun to go there on a date. He agreed to go just for the sake of it and when they actually got there the boy got so scared he ran off, leaving him trapped between a creepy ass merry-go-round and a kamikaze that was broken mid-air.

He called Jaemin scared shitless and in tears, yelling at him to go pick him up, saying it was all his fault that he ended up in such situation. Jaemin asked for the location and hung up on him, guilt biting at his stomach because he knew Donghyuck was right. They didn’t talk for a week, and Donghyuck only accepted his apologies when Jaemin bought him an entire ice cream cake and a stack of his favorite popsicle.

Donghyuck finds a shot of something green and he downs it without giving it a second thought, the memories of that godawful night making him angrier by the second. So yeah, it is pretty damn stupid that Jaemin would suggest such a dumb idea given how many things have gone wrong for them so far.

He avoids Jaemin for the rest of the night, mingles with some seniors playing never have I ever and he ends up forgetting about the whole ordeal for the rest of the night. Maybe it’s because he’s drinking too much, blatantly lying during the game just for the sake of taking shots and getting drunk. By the time they’re done playing he can barely stand on his own two feet and he just knows he is going to regret it the next morning.

One of the seniors, Johnny, he thinks, hauls him up and takes him to the couch, gives him his number and tells him to call him if he needs anything. Donghyuck almost calls him dad and ends up biting his tongue instead to prevent going through further embarrassment. Everything is a blur before him and he ends up falling asleep, head too heavy for his neck to hold it up any longer.

He wakes up to someone kicking his foot every two seconds, annoyance building up at him and yet his body is too tired to react. He opens his eyes to find Jaemin frowning down at him, a cup hovering over his head as if the boy was about to drop its content on him.

“I really can’t leave you on your own that you go and get piss drunk to the point of passing out on a couch, amazing.” Jaemin says in disbelief, getting the cup away from his head and he doesn’t have the energy to fight back.

“Hm,” he hums, eyes fluttering close and head violently tipping back before he snaps them back open, “Joseph told me to call him if I needed anything.”

“And who in the holy fuck is Joseph?” Jaemin asks, stepping on his foot once his eyes fall shut again. He yells at him and kicks at his shin, making the other stumble back a couple steps.

The night ends with Jaemin dragging him back to their dorm, arm secure around his waist when he fails to answer the question and falls back asleep. He can hear him mutter curses under his breath about how irresponsible it is of him to let himself get to that point but all Donghyuck can think about is how glad he is they don’t talk about that stupid dating app anymore.

Donghyuck falls asleep halfway into his bed, shoes still on and he can’t even bring himself to care. He wakes up to a pool of drool on his mattress and across his cheek, a pounding headache and a feeling of self-hatred so strong he promises himself he is never going to do that again. He blames Jaemin for all of it.

 

“This is stupid,” he announces, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth and proceeding to choke on the milk that goes down the wrong pipe. He coughs and a piece of wet cereal flies straight to Jaemin’s face, sticks to his cheek and slowly starts to run down. He can almost see a vein on Jaemin’s forehead pulse when he forces a smile at him, picks it up and places it on the table.

“Can you just,” Jaemin forces through his smile, hand reaching for his chopsticks and Donghyuck can picture a hundred and two ways Jaemin could possibly murder him with them, “do it already.” He violently taps the chopsticks on Donghyuck’s screen, the phone sitting right in the middle of their foldable table. “You already downloaded it, what’s stopping you?”

There is nothing stopping him, really. Only the extreme fear he feels whenever his brain thinks about meeting total strangers he might have little to nothing in common about. Jaemin has told him about a hundred times now he doesn’t have to match with every single person he sees and that he can be selective about it, and yet he can’t stop his hands from getting sweaty whenever he tries to reach for his phone, mild anxiety right at the back of his brain telling him this will definitely go downhill in every single way he can possibly imagine.

“Uh… ever heard of catfish?” he says instead, shoving more cereal into his mouth, darting his eyes away from his phone as if not looking at it would make it disappear. He really hopes it did.

Jaemin reaches for his phone instead, and when he tries to snatch it back from him Jaemin pushes his foot against his guts from under the table, leaving him breathless and almost making him puke out his entire breakfast. He watches as Jaemin types away on his screen, and several minutes later, once he puts it back down on the table, his screen flashes him a complete profile up on the app.

 

Donghyuck, 18

**About Donghyuck**

The only reason I want a boyfriend is so that when I’m singing Fergalicious and it’s at the part where she says “I be up in the gym just workin on my fitness he’s my witness” I can point to him and he’ll do the little “wooOOH” part because right now I have to do both parts by myself and it’s stressful because right after the wooOOH part I have to get right back into rapping and the transition is harder than you think

 

Donghyuck laughs, loud, smashes his phone back on the table and gives Jaemin a strong round of applause. He picks his phone back up, is glad Jaemin actually picked a decent picture of him and for a minute he doesn’t hate the idea so much. He locks his phone and pockets it away, ignoring the unsettling feeling in his stomach as he finished up his breakfast. It’s done now and all he can do is pray Jaemin will stop bothering him about it.

 

He goes on with his day, from one lecture to another and he almost forgets he set the app up in the first place. Almost, because the notifications that flood his tray don’t really let him forget about it like he wants to, and he dreads the moment he will have the guts to open it for the first time. The anxiety he felt before is coming right back up at him as he watches another push notification saying _Congratulations! You have a new match!_ comes in and he is quick to slide it over to clean it up from the tray.

He goes through lunch time on his own because Jaemin said he had to meet someone for a project or something, tries his best to ignore the constant buzzing of his phone in his back pocket. He takes his time, munches on his food way more than necessary, doesn’t rush like he usually does when he has Jaemin with him to keep running his mouth. He hates eating on his own, mostly because he feels like everyone’s eyes are on him, judging him for being alone. Deep inside he knows that’s not how it goes and that no one is even giving him a second glance, but he still hates the feeling.

So he fishes his phone out of his pocket just for the sake of distracting himself, the device now buzzing in his hand every ten seconds. He’s got a few messages from Jaemin, apologizing for bailing out on him and saying he couldn’t skip the meeting, promising to bring something back to their room for dinner. Donghyuck quickly types a _its cool see ya later_ and hits send. There’s a text from his Music Theory teacher that he doesn’t open, because it starts with a _‘Mr. Lee Donghyuck, as we talked last week…_ ’ and he doesn’t even want to know what it is about. There is a text from his mom reminding him to eat well, to which he replies with a short _I’m good ma don’t worry_.

He opens the tinder app, figures it won’t hurt him to give it a look, half an hour left until he has to go to his next lecture for the day. He hesitates for a moment, thumb hovering over the app icon until his impulse makes him click on it before he gives up on it altogether. He worries his bottom lip until it feels raw and takes a look on the people who matched with him.

 

Haneul, 18

**About Haneul**

I turn up to parties dressed as a caterpillar

 

The pictures show him a sequence of a black-haired boy dressed in a transformers kind of armor made of cereal boxes next to a fire pit as tall as him, yelling to the sky. The pictures are unsettling and Donghyuck doesn’t think twice before swiping left.

 

Chunghee, 19

**About Chunghee**

unemployed & mentally handicapped but otherwise a real catch

  1. r u the bottom of my laptop bc u r hot



 

The first picture shows a boy with light brown hair, smiling so big it looks like his cheeks are going to rip in half. He keeps going through the other ones only to realize they are all pictures of him crying in different locations. He swipes left again.

 

Daehyun, 17

**About Daehyun**

I hear you like bad boys?

I'm bad at everything

 

A boy with short bright red hair, dressed in leather and smiling for the camera. In the background, a car catching on fire. Left.

 

Yongsun, 18

**About Yongsun**

Trips, slips and falls will be the title of my autobiography

I once fell ackwards down stairs while giving campus tours

 

This one looks kind of cute, Donghyuck thinks to himself. He seems tall, bleached blonde hair almost falling into his eyes, soft features greeting him with a warm smile. The following pictures, however, are just candid pictures of him falling in different places, some of them making Donghyuck wonder if he has ever broken his neck. He doesn’t think he can deal with someone so disastrous. Left.

 

Dongsun, 18

**About Dongsun**

Two reasons to date me:

  1. Because you'd be the good looking one
  2. Please



 

Boy in question is posing with a goat and he doesn’t even have the nerve to look through the other pictures before swiping left.

 

Junghwa, 19

**About Junghwa**

Team Leader / Party starter (also see: bacon enthusiast, semi-professional high fiver)

I'm 6'3 and will put you on my shoulders at concerts and in swimming pools.

 

For the first time, he ponders swiping right. At first glance, the boy seems completely fine and not like a total weirdo, dark chocolate hair pushed up and soft smile so warm it makes his guts tingle. He keeps looking through the pictures, pictures of him if different places like the river or a café, until he reaches the last one and he is almost sent into cardiac arrest. He immediately swipes left when he sees the boy dressed as a clown, chainsaw in hands in the middle of the woods at night.

 

Hyunki, 18

**About Hyunki**

If what you're looking for is a boy with personality then you're in luck because I have multiple.

\--

Don't listen to him

 

He doesn’t even register how the boy looks like and he is already swiping left, a loud whine bubbling up his stomach as he closes the app and slams his phone on the table. He knew from the start this was a bad idea and he is definitely going to have Jaemin know this, takes mental notes to be extra whiny and loud once they’re sitting down for dinner later on. He stuffs his things back into his backpack and dashes for the library, decided on taking a nap on the twenty minutes he still has left.

 

When night comes, he is back to their room before Jaemin, figures he is still going to take a while as he had promised to buy them something to eat. He takes a quick shower, washes off the stress from the tiring day and when he is out, Jaemin still hasn’t come. He sends him a quick message to check up on him and decides to set the table to save them time. His stomach is grumbling, after all, and all he wants to do as soon as he has the chance to is eat right away.

Jaemin arrives twenty minutes later, shoulder up to his ear holding his phone as he talks to someone about something Donghyuck doesn’t really bother to give attention to, bags in both hands as he slams the door shut with a foot. He quickly looks up from his phone where he plays playerunknown’s battleground and gives him a fake smile before returning his full attention to the game. Jaemin sighs as he approaches the table, kicks his thigh where he sits on the ground to get him to move aside before placing the bags on the clean surface.

“I gotta hang up,” he hears Jaemin say, straightening out his back and stretching his neck. “Hm. Yeah, he’s not even looking at me.” He looks up at the boy as soon as the round is over, eyebrows raised along with a questioning look and Jaemin gives him the finger. “Hmm. Ight, talk to you later.”

“Who was it?” he inquires once the boy hangs up and tosses his phone across the table. Jaemin walks to the opposite side of him, sits down and almost knocks knees with him. The room is too tiny for them.

“You don’t know him,” Jaemin replies, not looking at him and Donghyuck frowns.

“And you were talking about me?” he grabs Jaemin by the wrist as soon as he starts untying the knot on one of the plastic bags and the other is quick to slap his hand away.

“I found a restaurant that had army stew for takeout,” he follows along, completely ignoring Donghyuck’s inquiry and he has to hold himself back from picking his phone up and throwing it at his face. “It should still be warm so eat up.”

Donghyuck sighs, giving him a look he knows Jaemin can feel deep in his bones, reaches for the two bowls he had set on the table and hands one to him, holding onto it in feigned anger for a few seconds until Jaemin is tugging on it to have him let go. He does, suddenly and too quickly and Jaemin hits his own chest with a loud thud.

To be honest, the food smells good and he thanks Jaemin the moment his stomach grumbles again and it’s audible for the both of them. They eat up in silence, the only occasional noises being the ones of noodle slurping and broth drinking, the spiciness warming him up inside and filling him with joy. It’s too much food, Jaemin brought two bags home but he doesn’t complain, eats it out with such happiness he hasn’t felt all day.

Once they are done and not even a drop of broth is left, Jaemin is the first one to break the silence and Donghyuck can feel his stomach twist and turn and his dinner come right back up to his throat.

“So how’s the whole tinder thing going?” he asks as he picks the dirty dishes up and takes them to the sink. With his back turned to him, he can’t see Donghyuck swallow back his gag reflex trying to make him throw up the food he just ate.

“Oh, you know,” he starts off, drying the reflex tears from the corner of his eyes right before Jaemin turns back to look at him. “Just, like, a total fucking mess,” he spits out, anger bubbling back up his stomach and he really wishes he had something hard enough to throw at the boy and knock him out. “I told you this was a bad idea, why did you make me do this?!”

“Oh, come on,” Jaemin laughs at him, clearly not believing a single word he says as he sits back down and Donghyuck can feel a vein pulse right behind his right eye. “How bad can it be?”

“Haneul, eighteen,” Donghyuck looks Jaemin dead in the eyes as he starts. “Says he dresses as a caterpillar, pictures show him dressed in a transformers armor made of cereal boxes.”

Jaemin tries to hold back a laugh, spit running down the corner of his mouth as he covers it in as attempt to not make Donghyuck angrier than he seems to be.

“Chunghee, nineteen. Emotionally unstable, will take pictures of himself crying in different locations and show them to the world with no shame. Daehyun, seventeen,” he clears his throat, closes his eyes for a second too long as he tries to will his brain to forget about all of this. “Bad at everything, posing in front of a car catching on fire with an unbothered smile.”

“Yongsun, eighteen. Was cute, almost matched, until I saw his other pictures and they were all just him falling everywhere. Might have broken a neck or several bones. Dongsun, eighteen. Posing with a goat, I didn’t care about anything else. Junghwa, nineteen.” He pauses, longer this time and he can feel his eyes welling up against his will, a severe shiver running down his spine. “Seemed pretty decent. Had a fucking clown costume with a chainsaw on in the middle of the woods. Hyunki, eighteen. Double personality disorder.”

There is a prolonged silence in which he makes sure to bore holes into Jaemin’s skull, his cheeks burning in anger. And then Jaemin bursts out laughing, perfect teeth at show as he bends over the table and Donghyuck nearly launches himself across it to punch him in the face. He keeps laughing for a good minute, wiping the tears off the corner of his eyes and Donghyuck has to bite his tongue to stop himself from calling Jaemin a very extensive list of curse words.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Jaemin finally manages to say through short, stifled laughs. “I’m so sorry for laughing, it sounds so bad but it’s so fucking funny.”

“This is all your fault!” he yells, reaches for a dirty spoon and throws it at Jaemin’s face. The boy dodges it and it flies right over his bed and hits the wall with a sharp sound before falling on the mattress. He points a finger at him and Jaemin stops smiling for a second. “What do you expect me to do with a bunch of weirdos?”

“I mean,” Jaemin tries again, tries harder to keep his laughter at bay and this time he thinks he can manage to do it. “You don’t have to match with people like that, you know. Just keep it for a while, someone interesting might show up. You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

They clean up after dinner in deafening silence and, when they get to bed, Donghyuck sleeps with his back turned to him. He is angry and annoyed and upset because he knows Jaemin is right. He shouldn’t write it off entirely as a bad thing just because of a bad first day. He falls asleep to the thought of trying to do better burning in the back of his mind, the crease on his forehead never leaving even after he’s deep asleep.

 

Donghyuck moves on with his life after he turned off notifications from the app the following morning, too busy with college classes and song compositions to give the dating app a minute of his attention. He is busy and stressed but he somehow finds comfort in it, keeping his mind and body so occupied he doesn’t have time to think about anything else.

It’s almost two months after he first installed the app that he opens it again, a bunch of new matches he mindlessly goes through. It’s useless, he thinks to himself, to be doing all of this. He is positive he can’t possibly find one interesting person in a dating app, much less one around his age and who’s interested in boys.

He stares at his screen, swiping left on every single profile he sees, and he is about to close it off and move on with his life when a new _Congratulations! You have a new match!_ popup rolls down from his tray. He looks at it for far too long, hesitates for far too long and when he clicks on it, he thinks his heart stops for a little while.

The very first picture shows a boy dressed in three layers of clothes, presumably a picture taken during winter, orange turtle neck matching well with his skin tone. His facial features aren’t exactly sharp but they are extremely memorable, and Donghyuck notices he probably isn’t Korean. He’s wearing mismatched blue and chocolate lenses that goes all too well with his look and the dangly leaf earring on his ear. His chocolate hair is styled as a comma and it makes him look all too great. Donghyuck concludes it must be a fake profile.

He slides to the next picture and it’s a closeup selfie of some sorts, just the boy throwing a v sign and the bluest of the skies and nothing else behind him. The sun shines on him in a way that leaves Donghyuck a little breathless, so he moves on to the next picture, only to be punched in the guts again. He’s at the beach dressed in white and his hair is blonde this time, clearly posing for someone. It looks so natural and everything falls right into place to the point Donghyuck feels like he’s staring right into his soul.

The last picture is so soft he has a hard time believing it’s the same person as the previous ones. He’s cladded in a white shirt with a bomber jacket thrown over it, the washed-out colors looking good against his skin. His hair is tousled and blonde still, a circular pair of specs adorning his face and he looks absolutely adorable. There’s a faint smile on his lips and Donghyuck finds himself almost smiling back at him.

 

Renjun, 18

**About Renjun**

Married. Couple of kids. Looking for some side action. Just kidding. Single. 3 tamagotchi's. Looking for someone to bring to family events so they'll stop thinking something's wrong with me.

 

Donghyuck genuinely laughs for the first time since he installed the app, brings his lower lip between his teeth as his thumb hovers over the match button. It’s a mistake, this is certainly a mistake and he knows he is going to regret it sooner than later but his body thinks faster than his brain and he slides the screen to the right.

The screen fades out to show a huge _It’s a Match!_ written in cursive white letters and he panics. He’s shown two options, to send a message or to keep playing but he just closes the app altogether and he instantly regrets the decision. He pockets his phone away and decides not to look at it until the day is over and he can go back to the safety of his and Jaemin’s room.

His day follows pretty uneventful, wasn’t for the girl at the library who fell an entire flight of stairs, got up and walked away as if nothing happened. He had been studying for his Musical Aesthetics exam when it happened and he was trying so hard not to laugh tears were running down his cheeks and his stomach hurt too much.

 

Once he is back to his room and under his blankets after washing up, he decides to check his phone for the first time since that morning. Jaemin was nowhere to be found and, if he did try to tell Donghyuck he was going to be late, he wouldn’t have known. The screens lights up to ten missed calls from Jaemin and a long thread of messages, most of them asking why he wasn’t picking his phone up or if something had happened, the last ones telling him he wouldn’t be going back for the night.

Donghyuck frowns. It’s not like the boy didn’t have other friends, in fact they didn’t even have the same major, but it was very unlike him to not come back for the night. He wipes his sweaty hands on his duvet and starts typing, a simple ‘ _been busy all day, im back home now. everything alright?_ ’ with an emoji to follow. Jaemin’s reply is quick and it only reads ‘ _yeah im fine just busy_ ’. Donghyuck frowns again but doesn’t really press on. He knows how to take care of himself after all.

He decides to open tinder, not really expecting anything from it but more weirdos trying to match with him. He doesn’t expect to open the app to a new message notification, and when he opens the chat he bursts out laughing.

 

 **[Renjun]** so i heard fergie needs a duet partner?

 

His fingers are quicker than his brain and before he can stop himself from being embarrassing, he hits send.

 

 **[Donghyuck]** three tamagotchi’s? sounds like a lot of work

 

The boy, Donghyuck finds out later on as they chat, is easier to talk to than he thought, cracks up some bad jokes that actually make him laugh and has his sarcasm level on point. Just as he first thought, he is a foreigner indeed, moved from China to get his degree in Korea just so he could get away from his parents. Donghyuck tells him as much, moved from Jeju to Seoul for a breath of fresh air and acquire some much needed independency. Well, as much independency as an eighteen-year-old can get.

Renjun tells him he’s currently majoring in Oriental Painting, and when Donghyuck tells him he majors in Music Composition he says that was his second option if he thought he couldn’t make it to painting. Still, his passion for paint and canvases overpowered his desire to pursue music so that’s where he stands now. Donghyuck tells him there is nothing he loves more than singing, and that his hope was to become a well-known singer-songwriter in the industry.

He falls asleep as they talk, and the last message he remembers reading was the boy, Renjun, telling him he was very ambitious and he admired that in people, something about not being afraid of failure of something. Donghyuck doesn’t get to tell him he is, in fact, very much afraid and just hopes what he’s doing right now will pay off at some point before his brain blacks out on him.

 

With their exams seasons coming up, Donghyuck has even less time to mess around as he dives deep into studying. He has a scholarship to maintain and he can’t really afford to mess his grades up. That being said, he doesn’t have time to text Renjun as often, too tired to even shower before getting into bed and dozing off as soon as he gets back to his room at three in the morning. He feels bad, a tiny voice at the back of his head saying he shouldn’t treat the boy like this but he knows Renjun must understand, having exams of his own to study for.

He also hasn’t seen Jaemin all that much except for when the boy comes back to their room to shower at times, stuffing his bag with so much stuff it almost looks like he’s moving out. Donghyuck knows he isn’t, but Jaemin also hasn’t said a word about anything or who he’s been with and he’s not gonna corner him and ask. It’s none of his business. He knows better than to doubt Jaemin and knows that if anything serious was going on he would definitely tell him.

It’s a quarter past midnight when he closes his notebook filled with notes on Keyboard Harmony 1, his brain close to fried from being stuck in the library all day. It feels stuffy and all he wants to do is get the hell out of there. He shoves everything into is bag, puts the books he’s not taking with him back on their shelves and dashes out of the building in record time. He can probably do a monologue on all the notes he’s memorized by now and he could use a little break.

He fishes his phone out of his pocket, texts Jaemin to see if they still have food at the dorm. It’s a long walk back so he just keeps going, but when a reply doesn’t come for another twenty minutes he starts to worry. He unlocks his phone again, this time to give Jaemin a call and he’s about to press dial when the notification shows up. Jaemin says he doesn’t know, that’s he’s not in the room and that he doesn’t know what time he’ll get there, and that if he needed anything he should probably stop by a store first.

“What is this boy up to?” Donghyuck mumbles to himself, keeps a hold on his phone as he turns a different corner and makes his way to one of his favorite bakeries. The place only closes at two and his stomach grumbles the closer he gets to it. He realizes he hasn’t had any food since lunch, too busy to even notice hunger start to bite up his stomach.

He walks in and goes straight to the food displays, grabbing a tray of his own and he almost misses the boy sitting at a nearby table. Almost, because he can’t quite possibly miss Jaemin’s million megawatt smile even if he wants to. He moves on to get his food and reaches for two spinach cream cheese breads, avoiding looking at Jaemin’s general area at all costs. He’s not mad, there is no reason for it, and if the boy didn’t tell him before about… whatever this is then there must be a reason to. He goes to the cashier to pay and, much to his dismay, Jaemin sees him.

“Oh?” he hears him say softly and, for some reason, Donghyuck feels like a culprit caught red handed. For no reason at all. “Hyuck!” he calls out a couple times, and when he keeps purposely ignoring him, he sounds annoyed. “Bitch I know you can hear me, turn around.”

And he does, the most forced out smile across his face and all he really wants to do is get his food and go home. The cashier calls him back and he hands her the money before grabbing his bag and turn on his heels and towards the table.

“Didn’t see you there” he lies, shamelessly, could probably punch the smile off Jaemin’s lips. “Are you going back to our room tonight?”

“Hm? Oh! Yeah, I’ve been so busy studying.” Donghyuck hums in response at him and Jaemin seems unfazed. “By the way, this is J–”

“If you don’t mind,” he cuts him off, trying not to sound rude but he knows that exactly how he sounds right now, “I’m so hungry. I’ll head back ahead. See you!”

He paces out of the store with his stomach tying a knot around itself from how hungry he is, his main goal being only to get back to his room as fast as possible so he can dig into his bread.

 

He goes through his texts as he eats, a myriad of unread messages cluttering his inbox and making him anxious. The last one he checks is Renjun’s, taking his time to fill his stomach and calm his heart before he makes it leap out of his mouth again. They had exchanged numbers earlier that week and Donghyuck hasn’t opened tinder since, a relief for his ever troubled heart.

There are only a couple messages, asking him how he’s doing and what his plans for the weekend were, and Donghyuck figures Renjun didn’t find time to send more for the same reason he hasn’t checked his phone all day. They haven’t talked as often but still do every night before Donghyuck falls asleep, and it’s always so late he can’t help but wonder if Renjun keeps himself awake just to wish him good night.

He doesn’t entertain the idea, cleans his fingers on his cotton shorts before climbing into bed, his spine screaming thank you at him. He’s not going to allow himself to fall asleep so early, it’s the weekend and he has no reason to go to sleep when it’s not even two. He tells the boy he’s doing just fine and is just overly tired from studying so much, and that he had no other plans for the weekend except sleep in as much as his body would allow him to.

Renjun’s reply comes not even five minutes later, and Donghyuck can feel his heart lodge in his throat.

 

 **[renjun]** don’t overwork yourself and get enough sleep, i know you’ll do just fine

 **[renjun]** wanna go to the movies tomorrow?

 

He drops his phone on his face, shocked by the sudden question and unsure on what to say back. It’s not like their conversations weren’t building up to a breaking point and he knows that’s the whole point of a dating app, but it still catches him off guard. Does he want to go to the movies with him? He waits too long, and when he sees the typing bubble come up again his fingers work fast on a reply.

 

 **[donghyuck]** are you asking me on a date?

 **[renjun]** we can call it that if you want to

 

Jaemin walks in just then, seemingly surprised to see Donghyuck still awake. He opens his mouth to say something but gives up as soon as he sees Donghyuck’s eyes nearly fall off their sockets. He hesitates before walking over and once he drops his bag by his bed, Donghyuck throws a pillow right at him.

“This is all your fault!” Donghyuck yells, and to say Jaemin looks confused is an understatement.

“Mind telling me what I’m guilty of this time, your honor?” he questions, grabbing the pillow off the floor and throwing it back at the other.

“All of this!” he says turning his screen to Jaemin, who has to squint to try and see anything. “I just agreed to go on a date on impulse because I panicked and it’s all your fault!”

“Is it the tinder guy?” Donghyuck groans as a response and Jaemin smiles at him. “So this must mean things have been going well? I told you so.”

“Shut up for real, I’m not talking to you anymore.”

Donghyuck turns on his side and turns his back to Jaemin, completely ignoring his attempts to strike up conversation again. It’s late and he’s tired and he starts biting on his nails as he stares at his screen, taking too long to answer again. Jaemin pokes him on the back with his toes after a while, sitting on the edge of his own bed as he reaches across the room for Donghyuck. The room is too tiny and they don’t know how they manage to live peacefully like this. He shakes him off and Jaemin pokes him again, making him groan in annoyance.

“Can you just, like, turn to me?” Jaemin says softly, clearly trying to hide his annoyance. “You didn’t have to be that rude earlier at the bakery.”

“It’s none of my business” Donghyuck mumbles, still facing the wall, unmoving.

“You’re my best friend? Of course it’s your business.” Donghyuck feels his bed dip down with Jaemin’s weight, and then he’s being forced to turn around with firm hands. When he finally looks at him, there is a frown on Jaemin’s face. “I think I owe you an apology for being so absent lately, I didn’t really mean to.”

When Donghyuck doesn’t say anything, he continues.

“I’ve been really busy with studying for my exams as you know and so have you. I didn’t mean to keep ditching you for lunch and dinner every day but I also cannot afford to lose my scholarship. My parents would kill me since they don’t really approve of this whole dancing thing and I’m sure you can relate to it to some extent.”

“It’s whatever, really.” Donghyuck says, suddenly feeling bad about the whole situation. “It’s just that–”

“His name is Jeno, he’s a dance major too. Same year but we have classes on different days so we didn’t really know each other. I caught him in the studio one day and he’s been helping me study, and when I’m done it’s always close to five in the morning so he just tells me to drop off since he lives closer to the studio.”

“Jaemin, it really is f–”

“We’ve been going out for a week now.” He finally says and Donghyuck and physically see his shoulders relax. “Didn’t really mean to hide it from you but I didn’t want you to feel bad, so I’m glad things are turning out well with the Chinese boy.”

Donghyuck pulls him into a headlock and proceeds to hug him so tightly it crushes his bones. He reassures him that it really is fine but is glad that he found some nerve in him to finally tell him what was going on. Jaemin lightly punches him on the arm before letting go and hopping back into his bed.

Sleep lulls him quicker than he expected, forgetting entirely about his movie date the next day as he passes out from exhaustion.

 

He wakes up in a startle, his subconscious suddenly reminding him mid-dream to the shenanigans he agreed on and his yell scares Jaemin awake as well.

He jumps off his bed and runs into the shower, washing up so quickly he is sure this is going to be his record time. He’s out as fast as he was in and Jaemin sits up in his bed, confused, trying to rub the sleep off his eyes.

“Can you slow down?” Jaemin tries to tell him, voice thick with sleep and Donghyuck throws a sock at him.

He can feel Jaemin’s sleepy eyes on him as he pulls up his fishnets and black ripped jeans with a lot of effort. He wonders whether his thighs got thicker or the jeans got smaller, the fabric a lot tighter around his limbs than he recalls it ever being. He bends down and cuffs the hems, willing to go all out just to make himself feel better about this whole ordeal and Jaemin hums somewhere from his back. He throws a mustard yellow top over his head, knows the color looks great on his tan skin, tucks it in before zipping his pants up and looping a belt around it.

He straightens himself, pads over to the full body mirror and nearly sighs in relief when he sees how good he actually looks. He styles his hair so it’s just a bit fluffy and neatly unruly, puts some light makeup on and once he’s done, he realizes his hair is about to either sink down to his stomach or leap out of his chest.

“You know you’re in charge of, like, taking me there right?” is the first thing he says to Jaemin and the boy hums back at him, lazily throwing his legs off his bed and walking over to the bathroom.

“Give me five and I’ll be ready” he says before locking the door behind him.

Five minutes seem like ten stretching out to twenty, his brain running over every possible worst-case scenario he can possibly come up with and suddenly he doesn’t want to do this anymore. The boy sure has been nice and fun and decent over text but meeting up in real life is entirely different than chatting through a screen. Jaemin walks out to him lying in his bed, pillow over his head as he muffles his screams with it.

“This is all your fault!” he yells and Jaemin feels like he’s living a deja vu. “I bet he’s gonna turn out to be a total weirdo and then I’m gonna be kidnapped _and then_ I’ll get murdered and it’s all gonna be on you for making me do this stupid tinder thing.”

“Are you done?” Jaemin says calmly, fixing his clothes on the mirror, not bothering to even glance at him. “First of all, get your head out of your ass. You’re already all dressed up and you look good. You’re going to a public space with a whole lot of people surrounding you, how bad can it be?”

Donghyuck glares at his back but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he lets his head fall back on his mattress, a loud huff going past his lips as he pouts.

“Stop overreacting and just go.”

Jaemin is out of the door first than he is and he rushes to slip his checkered vans on, shoving his wallet and phone in his pockets as he trips out of the door.

 

They had agreed to meet in front of Innisfree, and it’s barely noon but the streets of Hongdae are already so packed. It drives him a little crazy, to be surrounded by so many people and Jaemin has to hold him by the wrist tightly to get him to stop fidgeting. He stuffs his hands in his front pockets instead, looking around at anything and everything to try and ease his nerves. It’s gonna be alright, it really is going to be alright because Jaemin is right. They’re in public and nothing too bad can happen, he is sure of it. And still, if anything does happen it’s all gonna be Jaemin’s fault. It’s going to be alright.

He manages to calm his heart for a while, palms no longer as sweaty in his pockets when he turns his head to the right and his mouth instantly goes dry. He can see him, he can definitely see the boy and he thinks the boy can see him too, and suddenly he feels too exposed and a little undressed.

Renjun is walking towards him in such poise and posture Donghyuck doesn’t recall ever seeing on anyone else before, and boy does he look _expensive_. He is dressed in all black; a pair of shiny dress shoes that don’t look like they were made for walking, black jeans so tight it clings to every curve of his legs, ripped at the knees and exposing the tiniest amount of skin whenever his knees bend, and a black loose shirt that renders him speechless. It looks like a dress shirt but is nothing like it, white thin stripes patterning the fabric breaking the pitch blackness of it all, sleeves so long all Donghyuck can see are the tips of his fingers. It falls off his shoulders and he’s sure the only thing holding it up are the overly long belt straps on his shoulders.

His collarbones are pretty, it’s the first thing that runs through his mind, and then he looks further up and his mind completely goes haywire. His hair is almost just as black, a fluffy, curly mop that bounces up and down with every step he takes, and it makes him look so cute and yet so fierce Donghyuck doesn’t know what to do with himself. And then he feels Jaemin’s grip on his wrist tighten, snapping him out of his daze and making Donghyuck look back at him.

“Why the _fuck_ are you screaming? Are you okay?” He murmurs through gritted teeth, nervously looking around and Donghyuck notices some people were staring at him.

“Don’t be too obvious,” Donghyuck says in rushed whispers and he sees Jaemin’s eyes dart to the same direction he had been looking before, “but he’s coming right there. In all black. Fluffy hair. I’m pretty sure that’s him.”

Jaemin takes a few seconds to look over his head, and Donghyuck can see a smile creep up his lips just moments later. Then he’s tugging on his wrist again, and Donghyuck doesn’t have time to ask what it is about before Jaemin spins him around and suddenly there’s a full face of Renjun right up at him.

“Hi,” Renjun is the first one to speak and his voice is so soft it takes Donghyuck aback because it’s a complete contrast to his look. Being so up close, Donghyuck can see he is wearing mismatches lenses again. “Donghyuck?”

“Hi!” Jaemin says instead, voice loud and cheerful and it makes Donghyuck’s eye twitch because he’s _right_ at his ear. “I’m Jaemin, Donghyuck’s friend. I have to get going, so take good care of him!” He pats Donghyuck on the shoulder, gives him a firm squeeze and Donghyuck turns back around to talk to him, but doesn’t really get the chance to. “If anything happens, call me and I’ll come right away. Have fun kids!”

And just like that he’s turning around and heading back towards the station, leaving them on their own. When he turns back around, Renjun is giving him the softest smile and he can’t help but smile back at him.

“Hi” he finally says, voice cracking and he coughs to get himself back on track.

“Before we go to the movies I was wondering if we could go somewhere else first,” Renjun says and Donghyuck is a little hesitant. It doesn’t feel like he’s talking to a stranger at all but it still feels a bit weird to be in a situation like this.

“Yeah, sure” he says before he can think and his brain starts overworking. “Wherever you wanna go is fine for me.”

Renjun smiles at him and offers his hand out and all he can do is stare at it, seemingly unable to process anything. And then Renjun is reaching out for his own hand, smile never faltering as he presses their palms together and closes his fingers around it. When he starts walking up the street, crossing without barely looking and Donghyuck can feel his fingers grip tightly around Renjun’s hand as the other takes the lead.

They bump into random people and he doesn’t even have time to apologize for Renjun keeps walking and walking and it’s starting to make him feel nervous because he has no idea where he’s taking him to. His brain thinks back to that morning in which he thought about every possible way things could go wrong and he is sure this is it. As Renjun drags him to a far too sketchy alley his mind instantly makes him see himself getting stabbed to death behind a dumpster.

He panics, palm getting overly sweaty where it presses against Renjun’s and he is just about to scream when they come to a stop. He takes a deep breath, hand reaching for his heart and he tries to will it to calm down and when he finally looks up, Renjun is still smiling at him. He forces a smile of his own, takes a look around and he almost sighs out loud in relief.

They’re standing in front of a piercing studio, Nana, and Donghyuck snorts because that is literally Jaemin’s nickname. He looks back at Renjun and notices his smile grew bigger, doesn’t have time to open his mouth to say anything as the boy drags him inside the shop. There are jewelry displays full of diverse piercings on every wall, some floor displays distributed evenly through the place holding even more piercings. Donghyuck doesn’t think he has seen these many earrings in one place before.

“I hope you don’t mind waiting for a moment,” Renjun finally says as he turns around to face him. “I’ve been dying to get a new one, just couldn’t find the time to do it.” He points to both his ears and Donghyuck’s jaw goes slack. The boy has three lobe piercings on his right ear and two on his left, a helix on each and a tragus on his left. His eye twitches at the thought of how painful they must have been.

Renjun lets go of his hand and walks over to one of the displays and he unconsciously trails along, looking over his shoulder as he picks a new jewelry. He goes for a slightly curved black one and when he walks over to the chair Donghyuck stays glued to the ground. He watches as the guy runs over care guidelines with him, applies vaseline to a brand new catheter and as he’s about to pierce Renjun’s rook he looks away. It doesn’t even last a minute and he can already hear Renjun saying thank you and walking over to him.

“What do you think?” he asks in a far too cheerful voice and Donghyuck finally opens his eyes and takes a look at him. He is facing sideway, and that way he has a perfect vision of his new piercing. The skin is just a bit red and it looks perfect combined with all the other ones he has.

“Hot” he blurts out instead, hand flying to his mouth as soon as the word is out. Renjun laughs out loud as he turns back to face him and his smile reaches up to his eyes, and he sounds so gleeful Donghyuck thinks that maybe, just maybe, he’d like to hear that for the rest of his life.

 

The ride to the movies is almost an hour long, Renjun insisting they go to the Megabox COEX even after Donghyuck told him multiple times he didn’t have money to afford even breathing the air in Gangnam. Renjun laughed at him at that, held his hand again and said it would be alright, that he would pay for it. The smile on his lips didn’t really leave much room for arguing and he was forced to swallow down any further complaints.

The subway is packed and when the train finally arrives, there is only one place left to sit. He tries telling Renjun he can take it, brain reminding him the boy was wearing quite possibly the most uncomfortable shoes ever. Renjun has none of it, pushes him down the seat before someone else takes it and takes a standing right in front of him. Renjun isn’t looking at him so he takes the opportunity to take a once over yet again.

He really is one of the most stunning persons he has ever seen and he has to keep checking on himself to make sure his mouth isn’t hanging open. He’s not usually like this and he doesn’t know what’s gotten into him, but he does know Renjun looks breathtaking from this angle. And then the boy turns around to look at him and he almost gives himself whiplash by how fast he looks away. Renjun’s eyes don’t leave him for the rest of the ride and he can feel his skin burn under his gaze.

As soon as they’re out of the train Renjun’s hand finds its way back into his, fingers securely closing around it making him feel a little safer. He thinks about intertwining them together, wonders how it would feel but Renjun’s hand on his doesn’t leave room for moving. The boy keeps talking to him all the way from the station to the movie theater about anything and everything, from how he has been through pre-exams week to what his aspiration post-college was at the moment. He manages to keep up with the conversation but his brain can only think about the tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. He prays to the heavens this date is not going to end with him in distress on the phone with Jaemin.

He doesn’t even register the movie they picked, lost in his own thoughts about the way Renjun is making him feel, watches him from the back as he buys them some soda and candy. He is all smiles when he walks back and there’s a bounce in his step Donghyuck definitely notices wasn’t there before. His hands are full and he laughs as he offers his arm for him to hold on to, to which Donghyuck laughs back at him and slightly pushes him away.

They pick a seat far down, closer to the screen where no one else is currently sitting, and once they’re down and settled Donghyuck feels the tingly feeling in his stomach get even more intense. He prays this isn’t his body telling him he has to excuse himself and go vomit, but halfway through the movie – a romantic comedy he isn’t paying half a mind to – he realizes it isn’t.

It’s halfway through the movie he realizes his brain can only focus on how good Renjun makes him feel, how easily he can get him to laugh, how good he smells beside him and how bad he wants to smell that every day. It’s the way Renjun leans into him when he laughs, laughter pure and genuine, the way his shoulder brushes against his own and throws him off his track. It’s also the way his hand reaches for his when they aren’t looking, how he intertwines their fingers together and Donghyuck’s heart does a flip in his ribcage.

But most importantly, it’s the way Renjun tightens his grip on him, tugs him closer and, when he turns his face to the side, he is sure his heart stops. Because Renjun is looking right into his soul, face lit from the screen and his mismatched lenses look so good on him, and he notices how absolutely beautiful he is up close. Then Renjun’s eyes travel down to his lips and there is a lump on his throat, and when Donghyuck leans in he prays to god this is the direction things were going.

When their lips touch it’s like fireworks go off in his stomach, limbs tingling in excitement and suddenly he’s lightheaded. Renjun’s lips are soft on his and his fingers grasp tightly on his hand, his free hand going up to cup Donghyuck’s cheek. It’s chaste and sweet and no more than that, really, his heart beating loudly against his ears. When they part, he can see the stars in Renjun’s eyes and there’s a tiny smile on his lips and Donghyuck kisses him again, deeper this time, for how beautiful he is.

It’s like falling in love for the first time, heart igniting and adrenaline running through his veins at such rapid speed it makes him feel dizzy. His hands are clammy and he wants to pull away to wipe them down but Renjun doesn’t let go, pulls him a little closer and the way this breath fans his face makes him lose himself into it just a little bit more.

Renjun is the one to pull away this time, smiles up at him and turns back to face the screen, head resting on his shoulder. Donghyuck wants to tell him he could be his shoulder rest for as long as he wants him to, so he does, brain to mouth filter not quite working. Renjun laughs.

The movie is over and they head back to Hongdae, the ride back a lot more comfortable than it was before, the untold tension between them no longer there and Donghyuck feels like he can finally relax for the first time that day. Renjun’s hand is still in his and he doesn’t let go, doesn’t complain, mostly because he doesn’t want to.

“Hey, would you go to a place with me if I asked you to?” Donghyuck inquires when they get off the station and Renjun raises an eyebrow at him.

“Sure, what is it?” he squeezes his hand reassuringly and Donghyuck thinks he might be falling for him a little bit harder, head first onto the floor.

He doesn’t reply, pulls Renjun towards the same direction where they met earlier that day. He can hear the busking all around, couldn’t really miss it when artists are all over the place just passionately showing the crowd what they’re made of. His heart fills with a beautiful melody playing somewhere from his right and, instead of pulling him there, he leads Renjun up the same way they went to just hours before.

Renjun asks him where they’re going and he still doesn’t say anything, cheeks burning in mild embarrassment and determination as he takes firm steps up the street. And then he turns into the same alley Renjun led him to and he can feel realization fall into the other as they make their way through the crowd.

There is a big smile on Renjun’s lips once they come to a stop right in front of the same studio he took them to earlier at noon, and his hands reassuringly squeezes Donghyuck’s again.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asks, and Donghyuck looks everywhere but him.

“I think I wanna get a piercing” he blurts out, looking straight into Renjun’s eyes, embarrassment burning up to the tip of his ears.

“Let’s go in then,” the boy smiles at him and then is pulling him inside the shop, and his guts tell him there is no turning back.

It takes him half an hour to decide on which jewelry to get, decides to go for a simple, golden one and then the guy is asking him where he wants it and his stomach ties up in such a tight knot and suddenly he doesn’t want to do it.

“There’s no reason for you to be afraid,” Renjun tells him when he starts walking towards the door. “If you end up not liking how it looks then you can just take it out.”

“But it’s going to hurt.”

“I mean, yeah, it’s going to hurt a little. But are you going to give up on doing something new just because of that?”

Donghyuck bites him lips, sighs when he looks Renjun in the eyes and then he’s sitting at the chair, hands fidgeting on his lap. Renjun offers his hand to take it and he does, crushes his fingers the moment he feels the tip of the needle touch his skin. He’s getting a rook, just like the one Renjun got earlier and he’s surprised it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as he thought it would, and it’s done so quickly he almost feels disappointed. The guy hands him a mirror to take a look at it and he loves it, the gold looking great against his skin color.

“You know what?” he says as he gets off the chair, still holding onto Renjun’s hand. “I kinda wanna get a belly button piercing.” He pauses for a second and, before he can change his mind, “yeah, I’m definitely gonna do it.”

The process of marking it up takes longer than the actual piercing bit, the girl in charge of if telling him he has a very hardcore belly button. Renjun tries to stifle a laugh where he stands beside her but then Donghyuck is laughing at it himself and Renjun joins him in, their giggling echoing through the shop. He is about to ask her if it’s gonna take longer to get the piercing in but then she’s already screwing it shut, and he looks back at Renjun utterly surprised.

 

The boy walks him back to his dorm, shoulder pressing against him, his pinky connected to Donghyuck’s and he doesn’t want the day to end just yet. They chat about nothing and, much to his dismay, arrive faster at his building than he expected them to. He curls his pinky tighter, not wanting to let go, and Renjun smiles at him yet again. His heart is almost a professional at being an acrobat.

“I had fun today,” Renjun starts off, shaking his hand a little and bringing it up to his lips to press a light kiss. “Thanks for going with me to get my piercing done and thank you for letting me be a part of your first ever experience with it.”

“Suddenly I had no impulse control and just wanted to get it. Thanks for not letting me chicken out, by the way. I love them.”

They laugh, and then there’s a stretched silence and he knows this is where their night end.

“Let’s keep in touch, I wanna see you again.” Renjun tells him, intertwining their fingers for the fifth time that day and Donghyuck and feel his stomach drop.

“Tell me this is like in the movies where the main lead kisses the other main lead good night and they part in such heartwarming fashion and promises to see them again” he says, pulling Renjun a little bit closer.

“As long as Fergie tells me she wants me to be her duet partner, it can be.”

Donghyuck’s smile twitches.

“As long as the single father of three tamagotchi’s tell me I’m the one he wants to bring to family events so they’ll stop thinking something’s wrong with him…” he trails off and when they kiss, it feels like an explosion caused by stellar collision.

They part with tingly lips, tingly limbs and tingly hearts, and a promise to see each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> i love the dreamies and will die for them (half assed on the beta department if you haven't noticed, i got lazy)
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/10softbot) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/10softbot)


End file.
